Daniel updates Manton on his progress with Black Ink for iOS, and his decision to take the March 1 deadline to ship less seriously. They talk about the difficulty of tackling huge new features and how it can be dispiriting and disruptive to schedules. They catch up on Twitter’s latest hi-jinx, remark on the Elon Musk’s remarkable ability to perform worse than even the most pessimistic of expectations, and struggle to understand Twitter as it is both enormously influential and transparently broken.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- Next Week – Manton quips on a Platformer article about Elon Musk’s perpetual inability to follow through.
- Twitter Dev – Twitter’s official account for making vague announcements that may or may not come to pass.
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February 25, 2023 at 4:29 pm.
Daniel gives Manton an impromptu review of the new Micro.blog home page. They talk about striking a balance between coming across like a charming one-person company vs. a faceless corporation. Manton talks about open-sourcing the React-based version of Micro.blog, they talk about the benefits of doing so, and briefly discuss the GPL and MIT licenses.
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January 28, 2023 at 3:15 am.
Manton talks to Daniel about the forthcoming re-design of Micro.blog’s home page. They discuss the marketing importance of home pages, comparing them to the “storefront” of an online business. Are claims that an app “doesn’t have a lot of features” ever accurate, and if they are, is such an assessment valid criticism? Daniel asserts that he and Manton have lost some of their “hustle” compared to earlier years, and looks forward to plans to ship a public release of Black Ink for iOS.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- Many Features – Manton’s post about people underestimating the number of features in Micro.blog.
- Keynote – Apple’s presentation app, an example of a simple interface hiding many advanced features.
- Smart Software Bloat – Manton writes in 2006 about software bloat and hiding complexity.
- Black Ink for iOS – Daniel’s TestFlight page for his iOS crossword app.
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January 13, 2023 at 7:54 pm.
Manton and Daniel celebrate the apparent revitalization of blogging, a possible silver lining on cloud surrounding Twitter’s downfall. They talk about Matt Mullenweg’s recent podcast and public speaking appearances, and his general positivity about the future of blogging. They compare the virtue of owning your own domain name to owning your own home, and wonder whether awareness of this virtue will grow among the general public.
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December 23, 2022 at 8:52 pm.
Manton talks to Daniel about releasing MarsEdit 5, his excitement about the positive reactions, and his frustration about it not being approved by Mac App Store Review. They grapple with the uncertainty that app review opaqueness creates, and Daniel wonders if he could have done anything differently to make things go more smoothly. They talk about the mind-blowing impact of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and about the implications of machine learning on human creativity. Finally, they weigh the pluses of minuses of AI in general, and Daniel wonders whether he could fake virtually any job with the help of the technology.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- MarsEdit 5 – Daniel’s blog post announcing the major upgrade.
- ChatGPT – The machine-learning based conversational text AI.
- When the Robots Come for Me – Manton’s short post explaining that he is avoiding ChatGPT for fear of being distracted.
- Where I Roam – Daniel’s Micro.blog post featuring a screenshot of the ChatGPT-generated rock song about Micro.blog.
- Dithering podcast – A subscription-based podcast from John Gruber and Ben Thompson.
- DALL·E – The machine-learning based image generation tool, also from OpenAI.
- Midjourney – Another image-generating tool based on machine learning.
- John Henry – Wikipedia page about the American folk hero.
- Cut-ups – A history and description of the literary technique pioneered by William S. Burroughs.
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December 9, 2022 at 8:48 pm.
Manton and Daniel catch up on the latest news from Twitter, including the fact that Twitter is allegedly hiring. They talk about whether Manton would accept the far-fetched opportunity to be CEO of Twitter, and what he would do in that scenario. They acknowledge the mass exodus from Twitter and the potentially golden opportunity for both Daniel and Manton with respect to Micro.blog and MarsEdit. Finally, Daniel stares down the last two week of MarsEdit 5 development before his promised ship date.
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Links:
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- No Results – Twitter’s careers page in the wake of Elon Musk’s assertion that they are hiring again.
- Don’t Stress – Matt Mullenweg assures Laurie Voss that Tumblr will support ActivityPub.
- Tumblr – An increasingly relevant blogging platform.
- ActivityPub – Home page for the open standard behind Mastodon.
- Micro.blog – Manton’s social blogging service.
- MarsEdit – Daniel’s Mac blogging app.
November 23, 2022 at 8:38 pm.
Manton checks in with Daniel from his west coast road trip. They talk about Elon Musk’s first, chaotic week at Twitter. Daniel talks about his commitment to shipping MarsEdit 5 on Dec 5, and how sometimes we have to ship software for own sake first, and for our customers’ sake second.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- Multnomah Falls – One of Manton’s pictures of the Oregon wilderness.
- Dear Elon Musk – Manton’s blog post reacting to Elon Musk’s letter to Twitter advertisers.
- MarsEdit 5 is Coming – Daniel’s Micro.blog post about his committment to shipping MarsEdit 5 by December 4.
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November 5, 2022 at 8:47 pm.
Manton and Daniel talk about recent layoffs at Sketch, and what it means for the app’s future. They consider the difficulty for native apps when it comes to competing specifically in the realm of collaboration features. Finally, they take an optimistic view of Sketch’s future as an underdog in the design industry.
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Links:
- Sketch – Popular Mac app for graphic design.
- With Heavy Hearts – Sketch’s announcement on LinkedIn that they are laying off a substantial number of employees.
- Figma – Web-based design software that has become a big competitor to Sketch.
- Adobe to Acquire Figma – Press release from Adobe about it’s plans.
- Pieter Omvlee – Co-founder and original developer of Sketch.
- Apple Design Awards 2009 – Macworld article including a mention of Pieter Omvlee’s Fontcase app.
- Moving Goalposts – Pieter Omvlee’s 2015 talk about the development of Sketch.
- Nova – Panic’s Mac-based code editor.
- BBEdit – Bare Bones’s Mac-based code editor.
- Adobe XD – Adobe’s answer to Figma, prior to the acquisition.
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October 21, 2022 at 1:59 pm.
Manton and Daniel talk about Daniel’s progress on MarsEdit 5. They weigh the pros and cons of releasing major upgrades vs. a steady stream of “regular updates.” They talk about the changing landscape of PR and marketing for Mac software, and icky feelings associated with trying to “reach influencers.” Finally, they talk about the value of sticking to one’s own ideals an indie developer, and powering through feelings of hopelessness when you run into challenges.
Many thanks to our sponsor this week:
Links:
- The Winter Slowdown – Manton’s post about his “most productive time” of the year.
- Nova – Panic’s native Mac code editing app.
- Chime – Matt Massicotte’s native Mac code editor, primarily for Go developers.
- Neon – Open source framework for syntax highlighting.
- TreeSitter – Open source framework for parsing text from programming languages.
- Gutenberg – WordPress’s block-based editor.
- Ulysses – Popular Mac app for writers.
- Visual Studio Code – Microsoft’s Electron-based code editor.
- Code Mirror – Javascript/HTML code editing framework.
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October 7, 2022 at 9:01 pm.
Manton and Daniel talk about Daniel’s latest detour into working on new features for FastScripts, at the expense of other, possibly more pressing work. They discuss the merit of seeking out “quick wins”, while acknowledging the difficulty of predicting whether a goal will turn out to be a quick win or a huge time sink.
No sponsor this week! Please sponsor us. Thanks!
Links:
- FastScripts – Daniel’s scripting utility for macOS.
- Quick Wins – Episode of the Rework podcast talking about the value of small accomplishments.
- Late Night Software – Developer of Script Debugger for Mac.
- Mark Aldritt – Founder and main developer at Late Night Software.
- Keyboard Maestro – A substantially more capable competitor to FastScripts.
- Peter Lewis – Founder and main developer of Keyboard Maestro.
- Micro.blog – Manton’s micro-blogging service.
- Vincent Ritter – Micro.blog employee who contributed greatly to the latest Micro.blog for iOS.
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September 23, 2022 at 10:59 pm.
